According to the award documentation, the claimants asserted claims for breach of fiduciary duty, violations of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, suitability, professional negligence, breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, failure to supervise and vicarious liability by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Charles Alan Correal.

The claimants allege that respondents invested their funds in risky and unsuitable energy stocks, including Seadrill, Ltd., Copano Energy LLC, and Interoil.

According to Simpson’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA barred Simpson in December 2016 after he failed to respond to a FINRA inquiry. The inquiry and bar follow a string of settlements and a discharge from RBC Capital Markets.

RBC Capital Markets discharged Simpson in January 2016 after Simpson allegedly made discretionary transactions in client accounts. Following RBC Capital Markets’ discharge, five (5) FINRA arbitration complaints were settled against Simpson. Most of the settlements alleged unauthorized trading.

According to the Award, Wunderlich’s and DeRose’s customers alleged that DeRose failed to sell holdings in their accounts at their request and overconcentrated their accounts in unspecified energy holdings.

DeRose is based out of Wunderlich’s Beachwood, Ohio branch. Wunderlich has employed DeRose since October 2010.

Our attorneys continue to see claims against Raymond James for unsuitable recommendations of oil and gas investments, including but not limited to Linn Energy, LinnCo, and Memorial Production Partners.

Raymond James & Associates (CRD# 705) was an underwriter and book-running manager of numerous oil and gas investments when the price of oil was booming. A list of companies Raymond James served as underwriter and/or market maker includes but is not limited to Linn Energy, LinnCo, Breitburn Energy, Memorial Production Partners, and Martin Midstream Partners.

Linn Energy and its related, publicly-traded entity LinnCo, both of which recently emerged from bankruptcy as private companies, were particularly touted by Raymond James, and our attorneys continue to see customers who were invested heavily in Linn Energy and LinnCo.

Linn Energy exited its chapter 11 bankruptcy leaving many shareholders with nothing but a worthless piece of paper.

Linn Energy is an oil and gas master limited partnership (“MLP”) founded in 2003. The company went public just three (3) years later in 2006, raising approximately $261 million.

Linn Energy was once the darling of the oil and gas industry, reaching peaks of $40 per share in late 2012. The company went on an acquisition spree, including Berry Petroleum for $4.3 billion at the height of the oil boom in 2013. Unfortunately, the oil boom didn’t last, and the debt Linn Energy took on was too large to support when the price of oil began to plunge in June 2014.

It is believed that under the bankruptcy plan, LINE will be able to shed approximately $4.3 billion of the $6 billion debt it claimed in its May 2016 bankruptcy filing. The remaining $1.2 billion in debt will be absorbed by Berry Petroleum Co. LLC, a company LINE acquired in 2013, which will now become a separate entity.

Both LINE and Berry Petroleum are expected to emerge from bankruptcy and business will continue as usual, leaving many investors in a lurch and in many respects “holding the bag.” The Securities Arbitration and Investment Litigation Lawyers at the Silver Law Group, The Law Office of David Chase, LLC and Ciklin Lubitz & O’Connell (www.oilgasfinraarbitration.com) continue to investigate and have matters pending against firms/broker that underwrote, sold and recommended LINE to investor customers.

Waldman has been in the industry for 13 years and has 6 disclosures on his FINRA BrokerCheck report. He currently has a FINRA arbitration pending that alleges unauthorized trading and damages in the amount $121,000.

Our lawyers have filed claims against Raymond James for oil and gas losses for investors who have collectively lost thousands of dollars investing in risky, unsuitable oil and gas securities. In those instances, the investor lost much of the initial investment after a Raymond James broker unsuitably recommended and overconcentrated the investor’s funds in the oil, gas, and energy sector.

Linn Energy and LinnCo are two companies whose investments are structured as master limited partnerships (MLPs). What was once deemed a promising investment, the two companies have declined drastically. The master limited partnership (MLP) surpassed $40 per share as recently as late 2012. Since that time, Linn Energy has dramatically declined and recently declared bankruptcy.

Despite the risky nature of oil, gas, and energy-related securities, many brokers and brokerage firms aggressively sold these investments to their customers, some overconcentrating their customers in the sector.